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Ár Ré leadership election, 4116
Ár Ré held a leadership election from January to July of 4116 to elect a successor to Rebecca Shimmerman, who resigned shortly after the January 4116 Kirlawan general elections. Tauren Ó Marcaigh won the election and succeeded Shimmerman to become the Leader of Ár Ré. A total of 107,958 ballots were cast. Background Under Rebecca Shimmerman's tenure as Leader of Ár Ré, the party fell progressively in the polls. In the latest January 4116 general election, the Party secured less than 100 seats in the General Assembly, the first time this has occurred since the party's first elections in 4085. Shimmerman had less than 15% of the vote in the first round of the presidential election. The party's support in the swing province of Uwakah had weakened considerably, from 59 seats in 4105 to only 12 seats in 4116. With Shimmerman approaching the centennial mark, she opted to resign from her capacity as Leader of Ár Ré and withdrew herself from the party's candidacy for the Presidency, thus triggering both a leadership election and a presidential primary (held in 4119). Shimmerman herself died from old age a year later in 4117, having lived to the age of 102. Procedure The procedure for the leadership election was revised in the Second Constitutional Convention, 4115, which was now filed under Section 7: Procedures for Internal Elections. It was largely unchanged from the previous procedure used in the 4101 leadership election. The timeline for the election, approved jointly by the Executive and the Internal Electoral Committee (IEC), was set forth as follows: * January 26 - February 26: Nominations for the Presidency open. If more than six candidates are nominated before the deadline, preliminary primaries and caucuses will be held to eliminate those who receive the least support from fellow party members, the procedure for which will only be revealed upon this contingency being met. (Only three candidates were nominated by February 26, hence the contingency failed to be met.) * February 26 onwards: Election campaigning begins. * May 1 - May 30: Ballots are sent out to all members of Ár Ré. A single preferential voting system is used. * June 1 - June 21: Ballots are returned to Ár Ré headquarters in Nuchtmark to be counted and the results processed. * June 22: The results of each ballot are announced at a special Party Conference. The winner of the final ballot is automatically appointed as Leader of Ár Ré the same day. Candidates It was widely expected that Tauren Ó Marcaigh, who came in second in the last leadership election, would run again alongside Minato Monata (who came in third) and April McConaughey (fourth). However, McConaughey opted not to run in the 4116 leadership election, instead backing Marcaigh. Thomas Bakersfield, a relatively unknown member of the General Assembly representing the province of Dirguzia, also nominated himself in the election. Two other candidates considered running but declined at the last moment. James O'Brian, a Junior Spokesperson for Defence, declared his intention to run but eventually did not submit his nomination papers by the stipulated deadline. Witherham Shaw, member of the General Assembly for Nuchtmark, also declared his intention to run but failed to submit his nomination papers by the deadline. In total, three candidates ran in this election: Campaign Results